Shortly after the Apple Tree Theatre had produced his “Blade to the Heat” in 1998, Oliver Mayer was offered every playwright’s optimum deal.
“Apple Tree said they would do my next play, even though they had no idea what it would be,” Mayer said between watching rehearsals of his latest baby. “I have been a playwright for 15 years, and no one had ever said that to me before.”
The Highland Park troupe’s confidence in Mayer comes mainly from the remarkable success of “Blade to the Heat.” Seen at Apple Tree under the direction of Gary Griffin, this 1995 drama was first performed at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in New York and later seen at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
In addition to very positive reviews and great success at the box office, the local production received a Joseph Jefferson Award as best show of the year. No wonder Apple Tree was interested in getting its clutches on this writer’s latest endeavor before the new work went elsewhere.
“It’s fascinating to see a young man reflect such a broad vision of the world,” says Eileen Boevers, Apple Tree’s executive and artistic director. “He doesn’t write in a linear fashion, but rather he reflects the way the mind works. He’s unique.”
“Blade to the Heat” was about boxing. “Joy of the Desolate” is about Bach.
More specifically, the newer work (which has not been produced before) is a coming-of-age play about a Native American student at an unnamed Ivy League school who joins the choir to cover up his personal pain and insecurities.
That student (who goes by “D.C.”) actually is a thinly veiled version of Mayer himself. When he left his home in Los Angeles for Cornell University, Mayer found himself to be one of fewer than 30 students at the school who identified themselves as Latino. He says that music helped him survive his loneliness.
“I felt very different there in New York,” says the intense and articulate young scribe; “I found myself dreaming of avocado all the time.”
So why write about a Native American protagonist?
“I suppose I was giving myself a bit of cover,” Mayer says. “But I had to invade quite a bit of my autobiography.”
Mayer’s relationship with Apple Tree was originally due to the efforts of Griffin, formerly the theater’s associate artistic director. After things did not work out on a long-term basis for Griffin at Apple Tree, the director left abruptly earlier this year to take a similar position at the Chicago ShakespeareTheatre. The new job required him to let go the direction of “Joy of the Desolate” late in the game, and Apple Tree hired Geraint Wyn-Davies, a Los Angeles-based Welshman, in his stead. This show represents his Chicago directing debut.
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It’s now apparent that the Nederlander Organization and SFX Entertainment will be joining forces here in the fall and offering one Broadway subscription series for their three downtown venues. What’s that going to mean for the local fan of touring Broadway fare?
Much will depend on exactly what subscription deal is ultimately offered, but the decision to operate the Shubert, Oriental and Cadillac Palace Theatres in a complementary rather than a competitive fashion clearly makes sense (it’s done this way in most other big American cities with multiple road houses). Earlier this year, the disastrous engagements at the Cadillac Palace of shows like “The Civil War” and “Jekyll and Hyde” revealed the difficulty of selling touring Broadway without a base of subscription tickets. And because SFX is concerned with its bottom line, that’s pretty much why it kept the Oriental dark for so long.
Under the new arrangement, the local presenters will gain more options when it comes to massaging the lengths of the runs for touring fare. A show like the pre-Broadway “The Rhythm Club” (announced here last week) will be able to play at the Oriental Theatre for a full month, while other shows can be shuffled elsewhere so a subscription season can be maintained. The Oriental will have its hands full this fall with Kathleen Turner’s “Tallulah” and “The Rhythm Club,” which opens Nov. 11. That leaves the Palace free for “Mamma Mia” and, probably, the new tour of “Contact.” Then there’s Dame Edna (a.k.a. Barry Humphries) likely coming to the Shubert, and various other prospects on the slate, including “Annie Get Your Gun.”
All in all, you can expect to see a much busier fall touring season than was the case in the recent theatrically stark winter.
Two other brief notes. First, given the SFX stranglehold, the still-independent Auditorium Theatre is likely to continue its move away from Broadway-style theater (“Ovations” aside) and towards dance and other performing arts. Second, it’s sad to see Michael Leavitt, president of Fox Theatricals, become less involved with presenting, although Fox Theatricals’ exit from the Cadillac Palace will give one of Chicago theater’s biggest talents more time to concentrate on producing. We’re still waiting to see if he bites on taking the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” to Broadway (Leavitt has the New York rights). Such a move appears likely but remains unconfirmed.
